DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Denver Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton (94) reacts after sacking New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) during the third quarter. The Denver Broncos vs. The New England Patriots in an AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on January 19, 2014.

Denver Broncos defensive tackle Terrance Knighton takes part in drills during a morning session at the team's NFL football training camp in Englewood, Colo., on Friday, July 25, 2014.

The man they call “Pot Roast” is so fat, he won’t even reveal how fat.

“Just put three-asterisk-asterisk,” said a smiling Terrance Knighton, a Broncos defensive tackle who is 6-foot-3, 3**.

He’s a boulder. No, he’s Boulder. The scale best adept to measure this massive mass of a man is Richter. And he has the team’s biggest asset — confidence.

“I don’t think there’s a center in the NFL that can block me,” said Knighton, who sacked three quarterbacks last season — interestingly in a three-game span — then sacked Tom Brady in the AFC championship game. “That’s part of my belief in myself and my abilities, and that’s also knowing you have a DeMarcus Ware over here, a Von Miller over here, and Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, Sylvester Williams and Kevin Vickerson. It makes things a lot easier for everybody.”

This will be the most important season of Knighton’s career. The 28-year-old must assume even more of a leadership role on a defense that saw captains scatter last spring. The pass rush is vital to how this defense will play, and he’s vital to the pass rush — last season he rated 10th among tackles in run defense, 13th in pass rush defense, per Pro Football Focus. And this presumed weight gain is curious. It brings back memories of Miller, who beefed up during his suspension last season then looked slower upon his return. Knighton had some big nights last season, sure. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? I think Knighton’s line is “If you ain’t broke, eat all the fixin’s.”

This is reminiscent of the portly protagonist in the Pulitzer-winning book “A Confederacy of Dunces.” Ignatius J. Reilly, whose plump was described with much pomp, defied logic by somehow getting even fatter, upon taking a job as a hot dog vendor, sneaking a weiner or 17, as the author said he “chewed with blissful savagery.”

This description also is apt of the defensive tackle’s devouring of Brady, on a fourth-and-3 play at the Broncos’ 29-yard line, with Denver up 20-3 and 2:30 left in the third quarter. This made our town’s media darling an international media darling during Super Bowl week.

Knighton became a celebrity because of his effervescent sense of humor and his actual play, after years with Jacksonville, actually being watched by fans. He even recently starred in a Bridgestone tires ad, in which he hurried to the grocery after peering into an empty fridge and proclaiming: “We’ve got a situation.”

“Fans always love the big guys anyway; they have a lot of personality,” Knighton said.

And, of course, there’s “Pot Roast,” which Peyton Manning said Thursday is “one of the greatest nicknames of all time.”

“He’s got a great attitude. He’s a guy that the players feed off his enthusiasm and his love for football,” Manning said. “Certainly, he has a massive presence in there. … I’m looking forward to him having a great year for us.”

Ware could have gone anywhere. A stalwart of his generation, the defensive end looked at his free-agent options, and he chose Denver because he understood the unwavering dedication to winning. Everyone has made a big deal about Ware’s pairing with Miller, but Ware understands the importance of Denver’s best man in the middle since Dikembe Mutombo.

“I just know how he played,” Ware said of Knighton. “Sort of his tenacity and everybody always talked about his size — how big a man he is and how he really holds down the middle. You really don’t notice that until you play beside him and you see him take up two guys and you are able to get one-on-one blocks and do what you do best, and that is me pass rushing. It is just a great opportunity to be playing with him.”

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

CenturyLink, the telecommunications company that ended its sponsorship agreement with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall because of his protests during the national anthem last year, said it will not terminate its agreement with current client Emmanuel Sanders.